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Still hanging on with the moths…

Given the dry and fairly mild weather for October I have decided to run the moth trap for a few more days.  As I never trapped before in October usually finishing in September so it has been interesting to find out what other species are about in our recording area in late autumn.

So following on from Mondays nice weather I found this morning a single a Blair’s Shouldered Knot, 2 Large Yellow Underwing, a single Common Marbled Carpet and a lovely Red-green Carpet.  Evidence is now suggesting that the Blair’s Shouldered Knot and the  Red-green Carpet are perhaps more abundant in our area than I first thought…

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Red-green Carpet

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Redwings arrivals…

Winter thrushes have been arriving in good number on the back of the ongoing N/E winds. Yesterday at the watch point at Caldene Fields 1,508 Redwings passed through mainly to the N/W and today 4,647 moved again to the N and N/W.  A full account of today’s observations can be found on Trektellon

On the 13/10 a Peregrine Falcon flew through to the N.

 

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I think I will have to wait till next year…

At the moment I have recorded 199 marco moths in our recording areas with the vast majority been caught and identified at Caldene Fields.  I have just started to get to grips with recording micro moths and the total so far is 38.  My aim for 2015 was to achieve 200 marco moths but it is now approaching the middle of October and last night only 2 moths were caught a Large Yellow Underwing and a Feathered Thorn (below) so it is looking a little doubtful….but you never know…

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Thrushes…

The first Redwings and migrant Song thrushes of the year passed over Caldene Fields this morning which was a bit of a surprise given the S/E wind.  However, it turns out that there was an arrival in Scotland which accounts for the birds seen this morning.  Seven Song Thrushes and 4 Redwings were observed.

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A new bird chases through…

At 13.45 today at Caldene fields a number of Magpies and Jackaws  were very agitated…The reason a Peregrine Falcon a probable juvenile suddenly appeared low over the fields followed by a number of Magpies.  The bird then gained height as it saw a number of Black headed gulls overhead. It turned upside down and the poor BH Gulls flew for their lives…

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The gulls were let off…and the falcon went into a cruising mood.

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It stayed for about another 2 minutes always gaining height and suddenly it veered to the west and it was gone…leaving me with a rather big smile knowing that it was a new confirmed bird record for my list of 127 for sightings in our 3 recording areas.

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WRYNECK…

Received a report via my website of a lady at Oakenshaw near to TH Beck that on 17/8/2015 she saw what she described as a browny greyish Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on a tree in her garden.  The lady watched the bird for about five minutes.  She then looked in her RSPB guide book and ID the bird as a Wryneck.…..

At first I have to be honest and thought it can’t be…But I have spoken to her twice now and got a description as well as how it behaved and I am now saying I believe it was a Wryneck which is a brilliant find.  Interestingly a Wryneck was seen at Scammonden (Huddersfield) on the 7/9/15.

On her behalf I have submitted the sighting to the Bradford Ornithological Group to see if there is enough evidence to have the record accepted…so what this space.

 

 

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Autumn butterflies and Ragwort…

The plant Ragwort always seems to get bad press as it can be poisonous to horses.  But  from a wildlife perspective Ragwort is an excellent wildlife plant and provides food into November for many insects.  With the weather being fairly warm and sunny today I checked the local patches of Ragwort for butterflies and found 2 Small Copper, 2 Peacock and 1 Small Tortoiseshell all feeding.

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Small Copper

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Peacock

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Small tortoiseshell

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Moths and the Southerly winds…

The recent south/easterly winds have been bringing migrants moths to mainly southern Britain from the near continent.  The moth that everyone is talking about is the Convolvulus Hawk-moth.  The chances of getting one of these large beautiful moths in Bradford is I think slim…But one has reach Huddersfield!

So I have keeping the moth trap on at Caldene Fields mainly to see if any migrant moths appear and this morning the commonest one did a Silver Y.  Whether this one is a true migrant just in from the continent or has bred I’m not sure but I guess the latter…

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Holly Blue and the one that got away…

Yesterday I found a female Holly Blue feeding on heather at Raw Nook Nr…It is uncommon to have sightings of this species in autumn here.  Then as I was walking back through the reserve I glimpsed a juvenile Phylloscopus warbler showing fairly clean whitish underparts, suggesting a Wood Warbler…but sadly the bird was gone in a flash so it goes in the ‘ One that got away drawer’…Oh! well..

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The Lowland Heath habitat at Raw Nook Nr

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Rowan berries…waiting for the Thrushes to arrive

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Goldfinches a plenty…

I decided to do a mornings birding around the patch today with two things in mind.  One was to see if there were any new migrants passing through and the other to see how many local migrants had moved on during this cool spell.  However, I was distracted by the excellent number of Goldfinches that are feeding at the moment at Caldene Fields.  An estimated count was made of 120+ birds including many juvenile birds.  Also within this group were at least 4 Siskin and 1 Lesser Redpoll.

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A total of 29 different species were recorded.  But what was interesting was that I didn’t record any Blackbirds, Dunnock or House Sparrow……  Having said that House Sparrows tend to leave Caldene Fields and local gardens around this time of the year probably taking advantage of other food sources and returned around October.  A guess might be that the Blackbird and Dunnock are doing the same.

A Brown Hawker dragonfly and a male Common Darter were at Toad Holes Beck.

Female Common Darter

Female Common Darter

 

 

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